Third-rail ice-cutting and cleaning machine for electric railways.



PATENTED JULY 30, 1907.

G. A. SPICE. THIRD RAIL ICE CUTTING AND CLEANING MACHINE FOR ELECTRICRAILWAYS.

APPLICATION mun APR. 6,

INVENTOR 1m: NORRIS PIIIRS cm, wnsnmonm, n. c.

GEORGE A. SPICE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

THIRD-RAIL ICE-CUTTING AND CLEANING MACHINE FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 30, 1907.

Application filed April 6,1906. Serial No. 310,2 0.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. SPICE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Third-Rail Ice-Guttingand Cleaning Machines for Electric Railways; and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as willenable others skilled in the business to which it appertainsto make and use same.

My invention relates to a new and useful attachment for railway carsused on electric railways of the third rail system, for cutting ice andsleet from the surface of the third rail and throwing off thesame fromthe rail and facilitates the perfect contact of the brushes with suchthird rail. My object being to provide a simple and efficient means ofthis character and such a device as will not catch and break by contactwith the obstructions upon said rail. And said device consists in thefeatures of construction and combination of parts hereinafter fullydescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention: Figure 1 is afragmentary view in front elevation of a car truck showing sleet and iceremoving means constructed in accordance with my invention, and mountedon the car. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the rotatingcutter employed. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary developed bottom plan view ofthe same. Figs. I and 5 are detail sections on the lines 4-4 and 5-5respectively of Fig. .l showing the manner of supporting the bearings ofthe shaft of said cutter. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail longitudinalsection of the insulating coupling employed for insulating two parts ofthe shaft of said cutter from each other. Fig. 7 is a detail verticaltransverse section on the line 77 of Fig. 1 showing the transmissiongear for transmitting the motion of the truck shaft to said cuttershaft.

Sleet and ice are sources of great annoyance to thirdrail systems ofrailways for the reason that the sleet and ice coating the third railacts practically as an insulater to prevent the high tension currentsemployed from reaching the brushes and accordingly such sleet and icerenders the operation of said railways a practical impossibility. It isgenerally necessary to set gangs of men to work to remove such sleet andice from said rail, but this is a very slow and likewise expensivemethod of overcoming the difficulty. The object of my invention,therefore, is to provide means for automatically removing said sleet andice during the travel of the car by very simple and efficient meansdisposed on the car itself, preferably in advance of the forward wheelsof the front truck thereof.

Disposed on the bottom of the car preferably forward of the forwardtruck'thereof are two hangers A and B each of which constitute a supportfor the bearings O and D of a shaft E carrying a'milling-head or cutterF at one end. Said bearing 0 is vertically movable in said hanger A andis normally held practically midway between the limits of its movementby means of the spiral compression springs G and II bearing upon theupper and lower face of said bearing C and at their other ends on caps Iupon which set screws I bear, the latter serving to primarily adjust theposition of said bearing 0 in said hanger and further to adjust thepressure of the springs G and II thereon. Said bearing D is pivotallymounted in said hanger B being provided on its sides with conicalrecesses in which the ends of the set screws K are received, said setscrews being disposed in alinement with each other and maintained inproper relative position by means of lock-nuts L disposed thereon. Thesaid cutter-head F is practically cylindrical and provided peripherallywith teeth M disposed spirally thereon parallel with each other and saidcutter is so disposed relatively to the car wheels as to normally rideupon the third-rail N of the system, being normally maintained underpressure in contact with the upper surface thereof by means of saidsprings G and H, the latter serving also to cushion vertical movementsimparted to said cutter-head by inequalities in the height of the thirdrail at various points along the route. The said shaft E is providedbetween its ends with a sprocket pinion O geared by means of a sprocketchain P with the forward axle Q of the forward truck, said gearing beingsuch that a higher surface speed is imparted to said cutter F than thesurface speed of the car wheels so that although revolving in the samedirection as said car wheels, said cutter-head will grind on said thirdrail. The teeth of said cutter F are disposed so that one face thereofis practically radial and said face is presented in the direction ofmotion of said cutter so that the sharp cutting edges thereof willduring the revolution of said cutter-head act in practically the sameway as the cutter-head of a planer to cut away any coating of ice orsleet on the rail. The angle of disposition of said teeth is also suchrelatively to the direction of motion as to throw the ice and sleetremoved thereby away from the car instead of toward the same. In orderto insulate said cutter-head and prevent transmission of currenttherethrough to the running gear of the car, the shaft E is made in twoparts each of which carries a coupling head R at one end. Between theopposing faces of said couplings R a block of suitable insulatingmaterial S is inserted and said couplings secured together by means ofbolts T passing through openings in the annular flange of one of saidcoupling members and through bushings U of insulating material disposedin corresponding openings of the other coupling member. That part ofsaid shaft E which carries the transmission gear is therefore entirelyinsulated from the cutting head and a short circuit through the runninggear of the car is therefore obviated. The hangers A and B may also befurther insulated from the car body if desired by the employment ofsuitable insulating material, but this is not deemed necessary.

My said device is very simple and relatively cheap and efiicient and allmotor cars of third-rail system may readily be equipped therewith orsuch equipment may be limited to a few special motor cars which are, inthe event of a rain or sleet storm in cold weather, sent over the lineat frequent intervals to clear the third rail. During warmer weather thecutter head shaft E and bearings therefor may readily be removed andstored.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent;

1. A car or motor adapted to be used on a third rail electric railwaysystem, and provided with a pair of hangers, a slidable bearing; in oneof said hangers, a pivoted bearing in the other of said hangers, atwo-part shaft journalcd in said bearings, the parts or sections of theshaft being; insulated from each other, gearing between said shaft andthe axle of the car or motor, and a cutter mounted on one end of saidshaft to engage said third rail.

2. A railway car 'or motor adapted to be used on a third rail electricrailway system, a pair of hangers secured to said car or motor, avertically movable spring pressed bearing in one of said hangers, apivoted bearing in the other hanger, a two-part shaft journaled in saidbearings with the parts or sections thereof insulated from each other.gearing between said shaft and the axle of the car or motor, and acutter head carried on one end of said shaft, as and for the purposedescribed.

3. In a device of the type described, the combination with a car, of apair of hangers secured to said car, a vertically movable spring-pressedbearing in one of said hangers, a pivoted bearing; in the other of saidhangers, a twopart shaft journaled in said bearings and having the partsor sections insulated from each other and connected together so as torotate in unison, gearing between said shaft and the axle of the car,and a cutter head carried by the shaft at one end, the said cutter headprovided with teeth disposed spirally thereon parallel with each otherandextending from end to end of the head.

GEORGE A. SPICE.

Witnesses B. L. RICE, THOMAS J. CARLN'UE.

